ain't that the truth!?

 So the series has come to an end and like so many I was waiting with baited breath to see how she (Michaela Coel) would bring the tale of rape, sexual mores, social media, contemporary culture and communication in the 21stC to a conclusion.

SPOILER ALERT: 

I am discussing the last two episodes here and if you haven't watched it through then do not read further. The 12 part series relies upon not having heard it happening seen the denouements unfold, not being aware where we will go from one week to the next WAS the story.

 The finale was satisfying I have to say but no surprises curiously and it felt to me as if Michaela had been pressured to wrap up some aspects of the storyline in little bows, budding actor Terry's debut appearance finally on TV (played by the brilliant Weruche Opia) and the celebration of the 'book' launch "published independently" cocking a snook at the publishers who dropped 'Bella' towards the end.   . . . . a little bit too much 'and they all lived happily ever after'. 

Yet I forgive Coel this as frankly after such an extraordinary journey I would pretty much forgive her anything. Not least the trials of writing about real life events FFS! Just that 'obvious' wasn't where I expected to be left. So many viewers will have wanted to see her revenge in all it's violence, doing to her perp the same as he did to her . . . . . . 

At the least I wanted a 'darker mirror' ending to the journey she had been on, if a Black Mirror style twisting wasn't available. The storylining on post-its across the wall missed an opportunity to play with the fourth wall and leave them pursuing the stories spilling out in a plethora of endings writing themselves across the wall and the outcome as Arabella leaves us as we realise she has finally overcome her demon and exits the apartment to finally face the day as her life continues and her strength and sass prevails over the perpetrator now reduced to pathos. The writing of the ending to her 'book' as we went along was a clever brush stroke but under used IMHO

The several versions of endings seemed a tad trite and that's ok, I can enjoy trite but she missed a trick there I reckon. What was it three or four endings? What about hundreds?! How would you televise that? Just my idea I admit but it all seemed so  . . . . neat! Had she had an actual session with Charlie Brooker and not the fictional 'Della' [the Zain character so ably portrayed by Karan Gill] they would have come up with better than the story where the baddy gets beat up by Bella, the one where she finds him crying for forgiveness, the one where she has dominant sex with him and 'pegs' him? All well and good but a tad obvious for me . . . . . . . something darker, something weirder was what the previous maze like journey demanded of us. 

But heck actually that is all small stuff really . . . . I would watch it all over again and will. It was simply a tour de force all the way through and well done for allowing her 12 episodes to explore this thought provoking, 'ground breaking' and shape shifter of a drama.

where will Michaela Coel go from here?

 Wherever she goes next you'd better watch out!